New Album on it's Way!

Back in Action

Almost a year later, we’ve decided to start playing again. I have to admit, it’s been a really hard year and at times I myself actually thought about hanging it up for good. But after some soul searching and encouragement we decided that what we as a band, truly needed to do was continue on. We recently add Ryan Buchanan into the fold (man, this kid is good) and started work on some new tunes for the next album. This new stuff is very different from what was on Failure of Imagination, it’s more or less our yearlong journey out of hell bottled up in to musical form. It’s more complicated, intricate, and in my opinion more powerful. I feel like a proud papa! I’m really excited for you guys to hear it. So now for the big question, I’ve heard a lot recently “When are we going to play a show again”? Soon. We should be ready around November. So to all our Brothers and Sisters out there, if you interested in playing with us or want us to join a show hit us up! November is shaping up to be a really good month for us! But until then we’ll retreat to Observatory and continue our work and plan on seeing you all in about a month or so!

Last Recording with Chance

As many of you know, we suffered a terrible loss in May. Our friend, brother, and drummer Chance Taylor was tragically taken from us in car accident. He was on his way back with his father Randy, from Randy’s birthday party when a car driving the wrong way on 220 collided with them. Since then we here at TAO haven’t really been able to get back on our feet. We lost one of our best friends, and to Matt, he was more of a brother than a friend. See, Matt and Chance started playing music together long before the thought of TAO even came around. Matt and Chance seemed to always end up playing in the same band together and the way the acted, and teased each other, you could see the brotherly bond. When we received the news, we couldn’t believe it. Denial kicked in immediately. None of us could believe it. What followed were some of the darkest days, weeks, and months of our lives. How could he be taken from us? The glue that held us together was gone. The guy that never seemed to care about himself and always put his friends first was gone. We weren’t going to see those green shoes come down the steps. We wouldn’t hear him tell us to “Wikipedia that shit!” we wouldn’t have conversations on the most obscure movies in the world, and we would never be the same again. We just didn’t know what to do. Over the past few months, we’ve really tried to keep our minds in the right place. It gets really hard sometimes. Especially around this time of year. This was Chance’s favorite time of year band-wise. We always referred to this time of year as “writing time” It was always our favorite time because of the annual Halloween party at Jeff and Meagan’s. This year was going to be the first year in a long time that Chance wasn’t going to be there. We debated on what to do for a while, and somehow we came to the notion that we still had Chance’s drum tracks from the album maybe we could do something with them. We decided to play along with them for the Halloween Party. It was one of the most emotional things we’ve done in a while, and it came together a lot better than we expected. This got us thinking, what else did we have recorded with Chance? After some digging we found some old recordings of some songs we were working on from back at the beginning of the year, and we discovered possibly the last song we ever recorded with Chance as a demo song on Chris’s laptop called “The Shepard” it wasn’t the best recording given the fact that it was recorded on a very cheap mic going into possibly the worst laptop ever created, it was only recorded as a reference to work on and come up with ideas to, but none the less it was a recording… With Chance! We passed it around for a little bit, and thought, “why should we sit on this” after all it was the last recording we did with him, “why don’t we let everybody hear this?” so we gave it to Trey to clean it up as best as he could, it came out quite well from the original version, and sounds 30 times better than it originally did. When you listen to it, try to focus on the drumming. That’s a sound and style we may not ever hear again. So as we continue to get back on our feet, please enjoy this basement recording of “The Shepard” and just remember the good times we all had together not just us, but you too. Remember how, if you came to one of our shows, how you more than likely ran into Chance, remember how he was, and remember the man he was. Now he’s a legend.
Love you guys
~T.A.O.

Thank you for sharing the song. Trey did a good job. All I can say is, I can relate as I lost my drummer (and best friend) in my first band years ago to suicide. It was tough going for a long time. R.I.P. Chance.

July 10, 2012

Picking up the pieces

Losing someone is one of the most emotionally painful things anybody can go through. But, to loose someone you love like a brother as a collective is even worse. The pain is magnified 4 times. Not only do you suffer but, your brothers, suffering with you make the pain seem much worse. You all hurt. It hurts in different ways for all of us. We realized this first hand a few weeks ago when we lost our brother Chance Taylor. Chance joined TAO back in 2007 and helped us write everything on FOI, he was one of the most creative individuals you ever met. He was damn good at almost everything he did too, whether it was music, skating, or just being an all-around good guy. He always had time to listen. No matter what the issue was, he would listen. When you’re in a band with someone you get to see a different side of that person that other people don’t get to see. You become family. Chance was like that family member that everyone couldn’t wait to see. Even if he was late he still made up for it by just being himself, and that was truly a gift in itself. To see how many people came out on June 29th really touched us all to see that our buddy had done so much and had reached so many people. He was a legend in his own right. He was a hero to so many. I’ll admit, after we lost him we all contemplated maybe bringing TAO to an end. We would never be the same band again without him. But so many of you expressed concern over this, and you all seemed to end your statement with “he would have wanted you to keep going” I teared up almost every time I heard that. Because I could hear in my head how pissed he would be if we did quit. So, after a lot of thinking, we’ve decided to pick up the pieces and try to carry on. True, we may not be the same group anymore. But, we have purpose now. We’re not done yet. Rest well Chance.

2012 and moving forward

2011 was an exciting year for us, and it’s come to a close like the years before it. We had a lot of things happen this past year, almost too many to go into detail about… but as a band we’ve never really tried to dwell on the past and continue looking forward to the future. We only have a 2 show coming up this month, one with our Cousin Ryan “G-Funk” Greer at Beyond the Green Sports Bar on January 6th, and the other at our home base, Schooners with Mafia Track Suit on January 12th. Then, you probably won’t see us for a few months. We plan to take some time off to focus on some new music and possibly record. We’ve been working with our good buddy Trey Richards recently to add a new element to our style, and so far all I can say is what was once big is now HUGE! So take some time this month to check us out, because you won’t see us again for another few months.…
Take Care.
~Chris

We're Back!

It’s been a while! How’s everybody been? After some much needed rest, we decided to return to the scene that we love so much! We’ve played a couple of shows here and there, and even took 2nd in the regional Battle 4 America! (Congrats Breakerfall) We’ve been keeping ourselves pretty busy, and booked shows when and where we can. Big thanx to Tammy at Schooners who’s treated us like family, and Thanx to Angel at the Coffee Pot for letting us have some fun times there! We’re looking at expanding to outlying areas pretty soon, but more than anything we can’t wait to get to work on our 2nd Album. We’ve started throwing around ideas already and it could end up becoming something totally different… We’ll keep you posted… TTFN
~Chris

Where the hell have we been?

Where the hell have we been? that's the question I keep getting when someone sees me at bar, or out and about... Someone even asked me at Best Buy the other day. "Well, we've been around... " We had to take some time off... to recharge... write new stuff... realign... That's my official answer... we had a few personal issues to take care of and now that we've readjusted, and set our sights, We're ready to get back out there and play! One small problem... a lot of our buddies have either retired or moved on. So, we need to make new friends to share the stage with... So the search is on for new allies... See you soon.
~Chris

It's tough

No one really knows how to accept the fact that they'll never see someone again, but when it's one of your best friends, it's even harder. Nothing could have prepared me when I got the news that Javier Hernandez passed away a few weeks ago. At first I couldn't even speak, I couldn't think of the right words or even how to put together sounds. Javier was like a brother to me he was there for almost everyone of our shows, even the house shows and if he couldn't make it he would call just to let us know, he didn't have to, that's just the kind of person he was. He was all about supporting local music, he didn't care who it was or what style it was. If he knew you he was fan. He appreciated it all, he himself was a musician, I jammed with him quite a few times and more than anything he just wanted to play, support, and have fun. He used to tell me, "Imagine if there was no music, everything would suck" he was right. When I got the news at practice that day it was like the music just stopped... and everything did suck. It's taken this long to muster up the right words. It's going to be tough to finally accept, that when I look out from the stage I won't see Javier there anymore, I won't see him at the gym, I won't see him at the fights, and we'll never get around to that cook out we'd been planning for warmer weather. It's tough. That's why I'm so happy that we'll be a part of his benefit show March 19th. We'll do our best to honer his memory, as will our brothers in Dark Ruin, Melodies of the Fallen, and DevilLock. We all knew him well, and I'm sure he'd be happy to see some of his favorite locals come together in his memory.

Business Adventures

You know how some musicians venture out of their realm into a different world of marketing, such as clothing, novelties, musical items, and even energy drinks? We started thinking, has a band ever ventured into the world of brewing? Well, that's something we're going to attempt over the next few months. We plan on trying a few different recipes, and techniques to see if we have it in us to craft a great beer, if we succeed then, "All Right"! If it sux then we might create the worlds most potent rat poison out of it. Either way, we're gonna give it a try. Keep a look out for flavors from "The Aurora Brewing Company" available in limited supply this summer.

~Chris & Jeff

Oh and to answer your questions... Yes, we're still a band, and yes, we've been working on something musically... See you this spring. Until then, download our album for the low low price of $9 here: http://theauroraobservatory.bandcamp.com/